His Excellency, High Commissioner Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Mr Harry Partap addressing the audience at the CSIR CARIRI Mou signing. Seated is CSIR Group Executive: Strategic Alliances and Communication, Dr Rachel Chikwamba.
The CSIR signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI) at the CSIR Knowledge Commons on 15 February 2012. This auspicious event was witnessed by his Excellency, High Commissioner Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Mr Harry Partap and a delegation from the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organizations (WAITRO).
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CSIR Group Executive: Strategic Alliances and Communication, Dr Rachel Chikwamba and Caribbean Industrial Research Institute CEO, Mr Liaquat Ali Shah signing the CSIR CARIRI MoU.
CSIR Group Executive: Strategic Alliances and Communication, Dr Rachel Chikwamba and CARIRI chief executive officer (CEO), Mr Liaquat Ali Shah signed the MoU on behalf of their respective institutions. The MoU covered the following areas of cooperation:
- Business and technology incubation infrastructure;
- Commercialisation of technologies developed by the CSIR;
- Food technology, inclusive of food packaging and foods safety;
- Materials technology, inclusive of environmental management systems, waste recycling, and greenhouse gas emissions;
- Training at both institutions and short-term attachments; and
- Development of consultancy capability in select areas.
Mr Partap said, “I am pleased to be here to witness the signing of this MoU and I want to congratulate Mr Shah and others behind it. There is no need for us to re-invent the wheel; we must share knowledge and technology in order to strengthen the technology in both countries.”
He also encouraged both institutions to ensure that the MoU adds value to both Trinidad and Tobago and South Africa.
Dr Chikwamba echoed Mr Partap’s sentiments and said, “To get traction, we need actual work on the ground to get going. It seems to me the efforts of Mr Shah and Berenice (CSIR Strategic Alliances Manager, Berenice Lue Marais) are actually starting to bear fruit. There are two projects that I am aware of that are going to be implemented as part of this agreement of cooperation. One of the projects is in high priority area agro-processing and we are expecting a lot of jobs to be created. This is a key priority for South Africa.”
Mr Partap encouraged WAITRO to keep facilitating similar networking opportunities and went on to congratulate the WAITRO delegation comprising:
- Dr Rohani Hashim: WAITRO Secretary-General;
- Dr Tord Svedberg: CEO, Environment Research Institute, Sweden;
- Dr Eckart Bierduempel: Head of Multinational Networking, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, Germany;
- Moses Mengu: Chief FP7 Consultant, Danish Technological Institute, Denmark;
- Dr Charles Kwesiga: CEO, Uganda Industrial Research Institute, Uganda;
- Prof Josephine Tabiri: CEO, Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute, Ghana;
- Babatunde Aluko: Director, Raw Materials Research and Development Council, Nigeria; and
- Berenice Lue Marais: WAITRO Africa Regional Focal Point, CSIR, South Africa.
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CSIR Strategic Alliances Manager, Berenice Lue Marais and CSIR Strategic Alliances PA Thami Mokone at the CSIR CARIRI MoU signing.
